On Escentual this week, I’m giving you the low down on fragrances that make you feel fabulous, confident and in charge. Get yourself some LIQUID CONFIDENCE by clicking here.
Eau de Toilette
Pack your bags because CHANEL is taking us on holiday. They’ve booked the most luxurious mode of transport – no, not the Orient Express or Emirates First Class, it’s something much more special than that for this is an olfactory odyssey that takes one on a historical trek though the life and times of their inimitable founder: Mademoiselle Coco Chanel. There are three stops on the journey, so prepare to explore the green countryside of Normandy, dip your toes into the Atlantic coastline, and take long, endless strolls through a Mediterranean city. Don’t worry about packing any perfumes because CHANEL have got you covered with their latest collection: LES EAUX DE CHANEL.
With LES EAUX DE CHANEL, CHANEL say that it is not the destination that matters, but the journey. It is the idea of escaping – of exploring, losing oneself and finding oneself. It’s about traversing unchartered territory and experiencing new things. For the collection, CHANEL has called upon their in-house perfumer to create three contemporary eau de cologne-style fragrances (which are actually Eau de Toilette concentration) inspired by locations of historical significance to the brand. Housed within a new, travel-flask inspired bottle (which takes inspiration from vintage alcohol canisters carried in one’s waistcoat), these three ‘eaus’ mark a new chapter in the olfactory story of CHANEL. So let’s embark on an exciting journey and explore LES EAUX DE CHANEL.
I’m just spoiling you with these Escentual posts this week! This one is my review of Météorites Le Parfum by GUERLAIN – the scent of Météorites Pearls bottled. Click here to check out my review.
On Escentual this week I guide you through some excellent holiday fragrances to help you pack just the right scent for your trip away. Click here to read.
On Escentual this week I review the ENTIRE Sauvage collection from DIOR, from the EDT to the EDP and the bath/body products. Read all about the collection here.
The most fascinating aspect of perfumery is the building blocks – the familiar (and often unfamiliar) materials that come together to create something entirely new. For me, I am endlessly beguiled by the way in which a singular material can, not only be so versatile in its use, but also add nuances to a fragrance that are so far removed from the material when experienced in isolation. One could call this magic, but it’s not, it’s chemistry, and perfumery is a fusion between art and science, where the latter is used to convey meaning and emotion from the medium of smell.
For me it’s always been the synthetics that hold more interest than the naturals. Without synthetic materials (incl. isolates, captives and aroma chemicals) modern perfumery would smell a heck of a lot different. We just wouldn’t have the perfumes that we’ve had for the last 100 years or so – what we’d have is inconsistent naturals that, due to their own density and complexity, often lead to an opaque soup when blended together. Synthetics give the space and definition to these materials allowing them to compliment, contrast and extend each other. They pull the naturals apart and bring new dimensions into play.
One of my favourite synthetic materials is Ambroxan. OK, so it’s not a fancy material, nor is it a particularly expensive one. It doesn’t take 3,000 years to mature under moonlight on an exotic island. No, it doesn’t have to be expressed from the anal glands of unicorns (perfumery has always had a weird fascination with the contents of animal butts, tell me I’m wrong) by golden-locked virgins in the dead of night. But it is an incredibly useful and popular material, and it finds way into many modern fragrances in both prominent, and stealthy ways. I see it as a bit of a ninja – it swoops in quietly, bringing dimension and space to dense compositions allowing them to expand, giving them tremendous lift but also a fascinating mineral facet. To put it simply, Ambroxan is ‘the nuts’.
I have had so many bad mojitos in my life – you know the ones, they cost a bomb and have a despairingly unfavourable ice to alcohol ratio with far too many mint leaves for something that is not a herb garden. I do not have time for these naff mojitos – I just want to get tipsy without having to drink 40 of them, dropping £300 in the process. Honestly, if I had £1 for every bad mojito I’ve ever drunk, well, I could probably put my funds towards a bottle of something from By Kilian, which is quite handy because their mojito inspired fragrance, the cheekily named ‘Love the way you Taste‘ is a damn good interpretation of one of the world’s most iconic cocktails.
Love the way you Taste is part of the brand’s new limited edition ‘Miami Vice Collection’ (the other one in the collection being ‘Love the way you Feel’ – Kilian really does like a naughty name) which celebrates Kilian Hennessy’s love of Venice Beach, it’s colourful nightlife and deco architecture. They call it a “sophisticated mojito cocktail in a refreshing fragrance” and it seems that they have created exactly that – a refreshing sip of Venice Beach ready to liven up your summer!
Bust out your shoulder pads and break out the grunge plaid, because this week’s Escentual column is an olfactory time traveling caper through the iconic scents of the last four decades. Click here to read.
I’m always crushing on something scented or other. My nose knows no limits. Candy Crush is where I showcase the beautifully scented things I’m crushing on right now so you can hopefully develop a crush too.
Do you ever have those days when you feel completely blissed out? Where there is not a care in the world and you feel great simply being alive? Well I do and I recently experience a wonderful day like this. It was the morning after the Fragrance Foundation Awards, at which Nick and I picked up our Jasmine Innovation Award for Fume Chat, so as you can imagine, on that morning after I was feeling, shall we say, ‘delicate’. But I have found that there is no hangover that can’t be sorted by a strong cup of Earl Grey so heading to Waterloo train station for a very special, early morning trip, I had myself sorted.
That trip was to Keyneston Mill in Dorset – the home of the very special Parterre fragrances. Now, if you haven’t heard of Parterre, you are missing out. With this brand, the name says it all and it simply means ‘of the earth’ and that’s because Parterre grows materials that are harvested and used in their fragrances. That may not sound that unique, after all, CHANEL does the same, but one must remember that this is all happening in England (a country not known for growing much perfumery-related) and for their first collection of fragrances Parterre has grown, harvested, distilled and used pelargonium, bergamot mint and vetiver. That’s right, vetiver, grown in England, not India, not Haiti, but England, of all places! I told you they were special!
MUGLER have finally launched the highly-anticipated ALIEN MAN – a masculine counterpart to their blockbuster feminine ALIEN (launched in 2005) and their first male pillar since B*MEN in 2004. As you know, I’m a massive MUGLER fan so I have wasted no time in putting together some words in my weekly Escentual column to give you all of the details. So, if you want to know what ALIEN MAN smells like then all you need to do is click here and you’ll be taken on a little bit of a space voyage through this brand new scent.
The Candy Perfume Boy 